A blog about an actress, silent film, and the Jazz Age; and occasionally the Denishawn Dance Company, writer Frank Wedekind, his character Lulu, Weimar Germany, Hollywood, the state of Kansas, books, music, art, history and other things sometimes only tangentially related to the heart of the matter, written on a regular basis by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the LBS.

Monday, January 30, 2017

On January 19th, 2017, the Trump administration said that it would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities. Trump also said he would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees both PBS and NPR. All together, such funding represents a minuscule portion - a reported 0.004% - of 2016 federal spending.

The Louise Brooks Society stands against such actions. Each would disastrously impact the arts and American culture, as well as silent film preservation and exhibition -- including the films of Louise Brooks.

Over the years, the Public Broadcasting System has shown silent films on television, as well as documentaries about silent films. I remember seeing Kevin Brownlow's magnificent Hollywood series on PBS in the early 1980's. That was my first sustained exposure to silent film and film history. Looking back, it changed my life. What's more, having examined old television broadcast records, I have also been able to find that PBS screened Pandora's Box on television a handful of times in the 1980's. I wonder how many individuals saw a great actress like Louise Brooks for the first time, and it somehow impacted their life?

National Public Radio has, as well, covered many news stories related to silent film - stories likely not covered in the mainstream media. I myself, as the director of the Louise Brooks Society, have appeared on NPR stations across the country talking about the actress, most recently on WXXI in Rochester, New York. Without such attention to less popular art forms like silent film, American culture would be a much lesser thing.

Similarly, both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities grant funds to various film festivals, including silent film festivals, as well as the specialized musicians who perform at them. And what's more, eliminating such funds would eliminate funds that go towards silent film restoration and silent film preservation, DVD releases, as well as the researching and writing and publishing of articles and books (and the making of documentary films) on silent film.

I don't want to live in a world where the cultural standard is some crappy reality television show. The arts enrich our lives. All of our lives, whether we get a grant or not.

The most important thing individuals can do is to keep informed and to support arts organizations and the media that gives coverage to the arts. This article has a number of great suggestions.

Another thing we can do is to sign petitions against cutting funding. Here is a link to a petition on the whitehouse.gov website asking that funding not be cut to the NEA and the NEH. I think others are going around as well. As we know, Louise Brooks was a Denishawn dancer, an actress, and a
great reader of books. I, for one, feel she would be against eliminating funding
of the arts.

Consider this: When the Nazi's came to power in Germany in the early 1930's, they too moved to control society by controlling culture. In fact, Margarete Bohme's sensational 1905 book, The Diary of a Lost Girl, which can be seen as a feminist social critique of German society and had remained in print since it was first published 25 years earlier, was driven out of print by right wing groups in the early1930's. Additionally, some of G.W. Pabst's films - like Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box - were suppressed. No one wants to see that happen again!

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Speaking of La La Land, I was there last week researching two of Louise Brooks' films. I scored a lot of great material, nearly 200 pages worth of stuff, including many rare stills and publicity photos and lots of rare Paramount production records. The results of my research shall be revealed in the coming months..... Here is a snapshot of me outside the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Margaret Herrick Library. Over the years, I have visited the library nearly ten times, and am finally starting to feel I know my way around its way of doing things. While there, I also had the pleasure of running into author and film historian Mary Mallory while doing my research. Hello Mary!

Apparently, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills (where the Academy is located) is riddled with crime. Who da thunk? I spotted this WANTED poster tacked to a bulletin board.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

I have seen an image on social media which people are saying is from the acclaimed new film La La Land. This romantic musical comedy-drama film is regarded as one of the best films of 2016, having been nominated for a record-tying fourteen Oscars!

The image in question is a street scene depicting a mural which depicts Louise Brooks. I haven't yet scene the movie. Can anyone confirm this image is from La La Land? Additionally, I am wondering, is this an actual locale in Los Angeles?

Monday, January 16, 2017

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She
accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films,
writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on
stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional
ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about
what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass
of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to
approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented
is the
18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days –
when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities
were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985
attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It
contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple
sources including, first and foremost, dates and events found in the
Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her
notebooks (which she kept
from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from
various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where
Brooks
was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census
records and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985.
There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates
related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here
are a few highlights from the sixties through to the end of Brooks' life.

Jan. 12, 1960
Lunch with Lillian Gish at Gish's apartment in New York City. Later, Brooks attends a screening of Prix de beaute
at the Y.M.H.A, where she gives a well received 10 minute talk. In the
audience are John Springer, Jimmy Glennon, Jan Wahl and old friends
Peggy Fears and Leonore Scheffer.

March 27, 1960
Listens to radio program from 7:00 to 8:00 pm which features Mitch Miller, Bosley Crowther, Archer Winston.

April 16, 1961
Watches television program on the music of the civil
war hosted by noted conductor Frederick Fennell (of the Eastman Wind
Ensemble).

Feb. 12, 1962
Brooks escaped injury after a small fire broke out in
the living room of her Rochester apartment. Careless smoking was blamed
for the incident, in which chair was wrecked and the fire department
called.

May 2, 1962
Begins broadcasting "Portraits of the Stars" on "Woman's World" program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.

Feb. 23, 1972
Due to a "lame hip," declines invitation from David Rockefeller to serve on Salute to Chaplin Committee.

July 16, 1972
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features an Alfred Hitchcock interview.

Feb. 28, 1974
Watches her brother Theo on the NBC news program Behind the Lines; the episode also featured "energy Czar" William Simon.

Oct. 7, 1974
Roddy McDowell telephones asking what Brooks thinks of his role on the Planet of the Apes television series.

April 18, 1979
Writer Jim Watters and photographer Horst P. Horst visit Brooks in her Rochester apartment on assignment for LIFE magazine.

Feb. 1980
Brooks is featured in Life magazine article, "What Became of Mary Astor and other Lost Stars?" by James Watters.

Oct. 30, 1980
Returns to her apartment after a week in the hospital after suffering a fall.

Sept. 19, 1982
The local newspaper reports that Brooks was
disturbed by a local jazz musician, practicing their drums outside near
Brooks' apartment. The musician was escorted to Brooks apartment, and
spoke with the bed-ridden former actress. The musician took her drum kit
indoors, and the next day received a phone call from Brooks.

Feb. 15, 1983
Rochester radio personality William Klein
brings comedian Joan Rivers to Brooks' apartment, where they talk and
enjoy croissants from the Strathallan hotel.

March 21, 1983Brooks reports having received a phone call from director Robert Towne, and that they talked for more than an hour.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

The classic Louise Brooks film, Pandora's Box (1929), will be shown tomorrow in Istanbul, Turkey. This special presentation will feature live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. For more information about this special event, please visit THIS PAGE.

Charming and attractive musical
revue actress Lulu (Louise Brooks), who inspires admiration of both men
and women and steals everybody’s heart, does everything to break the
upcoming marriage of Dr. Schönn, a patron of the show and her former
lover. She succeeds in marrying him, but this opens Pandora’s Box
ultimately leading to a tragic end for everybody, including Lulu. Louise
Brooks began her career in the US in 1925. Pandora’s Box, adapted from
two plays by German playwright Frank Wedekind, was her first European
movie. After this movie, the name Lulu became Louise Brooks’ nickname.
Last year’s “Beauty Prize” is followed by Louise Brooks’ first European
movie. Don’t miss it!

Friday, January 13, 2017

Charlotte Siller, a dedicated Louise Brooks
researcher and devotee, is doing something vital, and something important. She is making a documentary about Louise Brooks. And, she has set out to interview some of the last few surviving people who knew Louise Brooks.

Documentary of a Lost Girl is an in-the-works documentary about Brooks which launched a Kickstarter campaign to help it reach completion. According to its campaign page, "This film will uncover the life of Louise Brooks through interviews,
traveling, archival resources and Brooks-style immersive research." Find out more at http://www.documentaryofalostgirl.com/

I encourage everyone to find out more and to make a donation to this worthwhile cause. I already have . . . . Find out more HERE, and please consider making a donation. There is only about a week left to do so. A new documentary about Louise Brooks is something we all want.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She
accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films,
writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on
stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional
ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about
what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass
of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to
approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented
is the
18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days –
when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities
were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985
attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It
contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple
sources including, first and foremost, dates and events found in the
Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her
notebooks (which she kept
from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from
various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where
Brooks
was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census
records and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985.
There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates
related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here
are a few highlights from the forties and fifties.

June 15, 1940Los Angeles Times reports Brooks the victim
of reputed swindler Benjamin F. Crandall; according to articles from the
time, Brooks lost $2,000 in a Hollywood magazine stock promotion
scheme.

Jan. 1941
Reads and takes notes on the French philosopher Henri Bergson.

Aug. 3, 1942
Hired as a sales girl at Garfields, a department store in Wichita. Brooks works the accessories counter.

June ?, 1943
Meets with writer Robert Benchley, who gives her a copy of Pascal's Pensees.

June 29, 1943
Attends original Broadway production of Oklahoma! at the St. James Theatre in New York, with William S. Paley, Ben Gimbel and two others.

Dec. 15, 1948
Lowell, MA journalist (and future Jack Kerouac in-law)
Charles Sampas muses about Brooks in his column, "I can remember Way
Back When and actress named Louise Brooks was the Number One favorite of
the Square Beaux...."

Nov. 10, 1949
Brooks sees Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn perform
"Creative Dances on Ethnic Themes" at the American Museum of Natural
History in New York City.

Oct. 18-19, 1952
Eastman House screens Beggars of Life, an "adult silent film not recommended for children."

Nov. 10, 1952
Visits rectory of St. John the Evangelist's Church (55
East 55th Street at First Avenue, New York City) seeking spiritual
counsel.

Dec. 13, 1953
Receives confirmation in the Catholic Church at St. Patrick Cathedral in New York City. Bishop Flannelly
presides. Before the ritual of being confirmed, those seeking
confirmation choose to take a saint's name with whom they identify.
After confirmation, the confirmed can pray to the saint for guidance and
protection. Brooks chooses St. Thérèse, "the little flower."

May 31, 1957Diary of a Lost Girl screened at the Eastman
House for members of the Cinema 16 film club from New York City. Brooks
is likely in attendance, as is the film's assistant director, Paul
Falkenberg. Also present is film historian Arthur Knight, cineastes Amos
Vogel, animator and film director Gene Deitch, and others.

Oct. 27, 1957
Watches coverage of Queen Elizabeth visit to the United States on television.

Nov. 5 - 7, 1958
"Homage to Louise Brooks" takes place at Cinematheque Francaise; Brooks makes a short speech in French, and meets with Prix de Beaute co-star Georges Charlia. Brooks attends a reception in her honor, and reportedly signs hundreds of autographs.

April 30, 1959
Watches The Milton Berle Show on television. This episode included Tallulah Bankhead.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

A BIG thank you to The Chap magazine, who sent me a copy of their latest issue. It features an article about Louise Brooks, "Inventing the Girl," which I enjoyed reading.

For those not familiar with the UK magazine, "The Chap takes a wry look at the modern world
through the steamed-up monocle of a more refined age, occasionally
getting its sock suspenders into a twist at the unspeakable vulgarity of
the twenty-first century. Since 1999, the Chap has been championing the rights of that
increasingly marginalised and discredited species of Englishman – the
gentleman. The Chap believes that a society without courteous behaviour
and proper headwear is a society on the brink of moral and sartorial
collapse, and it seeks to reinstate such outmoded but indispensable
gestures as hat doffing, giving up one’s seat to a lady and regularly
using a trouser press."

The new issue is their 90th. "The Chap’s 90th print edition is out now, with Neil Hannon on the cover and a full-length interview inside. We also have a long-overdue profile of Louise Brooks by our resident
Doctor of Dandyism; some tips on dress for world leaders, with
particular emphasis on how not to dress like Donald Trump; a walk on the
wild side of Berlin’s cabaret scene; the life of Eugen Sandow, the
Victorian strong man who invented modern bodybuilding.

Cricket looks at Harold Pinter’s lifelong devotion to cricket, which
he thought was better than sex; Laszlo Krass reports from Rome on a plot
to steal a valuable Caravaggio; our Parisian correspondent reports from
the most elegant stall at the flea market. The Butler advises the
gentleman with an embonpoint, Atters rounds up his stable of hirsute
beauties and beasts and we crown another King of Chaps."

Monday, January 9, 2017

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She
accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films,
writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on
stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional
ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about
what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass
of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to
approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented
is the
18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days –
when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities
were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985
attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It
contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple
sources including, first and foremost, dates and events found in the
Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her
notebooks (which she kept
from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from
various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where
Brooks
was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census
records and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985.
There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates
related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here
are a few highlights for the 1930s.

Feb. 25, 1930
Attends performance of The Last Mile, a play by John Wexley, at the Sam H. Harris Theatre in New York. Among those in the cast is Spencer Tracey.

April 2, 1930
Book columnist William Soskin reports what a few celebrities are said to be reading (Clara Bow, Hulu), and somewhat incredulously notes Brooks is reading Hermann Sudermann's The Mad Professor and Stefan Zweig's The Case of Sergeant Grischa.

May 1, 1933Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist Art Arthur
reports seeing Brooks at the Ha-Ha Club in New York, where she joined a
table with Peggy Fears and Lupe Velez. Other current and former stars
were also in attendance, including Mae Murray.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

The schedule for the 2017 Kansas Silent Film Festival has been announced. Among the special guests are Dr. Harriet Fields, who will be talking about her grandfather W. C. Fields, when the festival shows the 1926 W. C. Fields / Louise Brooks film, It's the Old Army Game. More information about the event can be found HERE.

Friday, January 6, 2017

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She
accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films,
writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on
stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional
ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about
what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass
of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to
approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented
is the
18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days –
when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities
were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985
attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It
contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple
sources including, first and foremost, dates and events found in the
Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her
notebooks (which she kept
from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from
various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where
Brooks
was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census
records and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985.
There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here
are a few highlights for the last half of the 1920s.

Sept. 17, 1925
Brooks’ ghost-written review (by-lined by Herman J. Mankiewicz) of the stage play No, No, Nanette appears in the New York Times.

Dec. 1, 1925
Wearing a celebrated "drafty" costume designed by John
Harkrider, Brooks attends the Lafayette fête (a society fundraiser) held
at the Hotel Astor in New York City. Also there in costume were Gloria
Swanson as Marie Antoinette, and Adolphe Menjou as Price Eugene, with
Leon Errol acting as master of ceremonies, and Irene Bordoni singing.
Also attending were Ethel Barrymore, Noel Coward, Richard Barthelmess,
Marilyn Miller, Walter Wanger, Otto Kahn, John Jay Chapman, and others.

May 26, 1926
Brooks appears on the cover of the Danish film magazine Ugebladet — probable 1st appearance on a European magazine cover.

Aug. 6, 1926
Attends opening of first sound film, Don Juan (1926), with Peggy Fears and A.C. Blumenthal at the Warner Theater in New York City.

Aug. 30, 1926
Attends Rudolph Valentino’s funeral in New York City.

Nov. 5, 1926
Makes a personal appearance at a benefit pre-release midnight showing at the Rialto Theater of We're in the Navy Now,
directed by Eddie Sutherland, who is also on hand. (As is Betty
Bronson, Ricardo Cortez, Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher, William Powell,
Evelyn Brent, and Philip Strange. Helen Morgan sings.) The event is a
benefit showing in aid of the New York American Christmas and Relief Fund.

July 8, 1927
Attends the West Coast premiere of Way of All Flesh at Criterion Theater in Los Angeles, California.

Aug. 27, 1927
At the Paramount studio shooting scenes (interiors in the aviation headquarters and ante room) for Now We’re in the Air. Later in the day attends a Hollywood party in honor of Lina Basquette.

May 12, 1928
Brooks and Mary Brian are guests of honor at an
afternoon benefit bridge given by the Los Angeles alumni of Pi Kappa
Psi, a national education sorority, on the south patio of the Alexandria
hotel.

Aug. 28, 1928
In the evening, Brooks, Richard Dix and other 16 others involved in the filming of Redskin arrive in Gallup, New Mexico, where they stay at the El Navajo hotel.

Oct. 11, 1928
The Emporia Weekly Gazette reports that Brooks will pass through Emporia, Kansas on the east bound no. 20.

Dec. 1928
Brooks meets William S. Paley, the new owner of CBS. They keep company for the next two months.

Jan. 23, 1929Variety writes, "Louise Brooks of the
'movies' thinks Jimmy Durante should have that schnozzola patented.
Louise is quite the talk of the ringside these nights."

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

The British Film Institue (BFI) is screening the 1929 Louise Brooks' film, Pandora's Box, not once, but four times in January! The first screening took place yesterday, with the others following on January 6, 8, and 2 at the National Film Theater 2 in London. Tickets are on sale. For more information about this historic presentation, please visit THIS PAGE.

From the BFI website: "Pabst’s landmark adaptation of two plays by Frank Wedekind boasts an
iconic performance by Louise Brooks as Lulu, the guiltless, guileless
beauty who wreaks havoc among all those seduced by her raw sexuality,
only to fall prey to an even darker force. A precise and subtle
expressionism inflects the sets, costumes and make-up, highlighting the
ruinous appeal of unbridled eroticism."

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She
accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films,
writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on
stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional
ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about
what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented is the
18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days –
when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities
were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985 attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It
contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple
sources including, first and foremost, dates and events found in the Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her notebooks (which she kept
from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from
various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where Brooks
was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census
records and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985. There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here are a few highlights for the years prior to Brooks becoming a film star.

Nov. 14, 1906
Born Mary Louise Brooks in the town of Cherryvale,
Kansas to Leonard and Myra Brooks. A small article announcing the birth
appears on the front page of the local newspapers, the Cherryvale Republican and Cherryvale Daily News.

Sept. 2, 1910
Performs in "Tom Thumb Wedding" at the Cherryvale
Christian church. Admission is 15 and 25 cents. The following day, a
newspaper article states there was "good attendance," and that the
"program pleased the audience, and netted the sum of $300 for the
church."

Jan. 18, 1918
Brooks, who is called "Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary"
in the local newspaper, leads a "Dance of the Flowers" with 12 other
Flower Maidens in the Mother Goose Pageant at the local High School, a
benefit for the Red Cross fund.

Feb. 12, 1918
Joins the newly formed G. K. Club (Girls Knitting
Club), composed of other local youngsters, who enjoy games, music,
treats, and other other activities and meet at the home of a neighbor.

May 2, 1919
Dances "The Gloating Dance of Destruction" (as arranged
by Mrs. Milburn Hobson) at "The Progress of Peace" pageant at the
Beldorf theater in Independence. The event is advertised, and mention is
made in the ad of Brooks performance. A "large audience" turns out. The
event, under the auspices of the local Y.M.C.A., is a benefit to
further the sale of Liberty bonds. (Vivian Jones, the future Vivian Vance, also takes part.)

Nov. 15, 1919
Hosts an outing for friends, who take in the Dorothy Gish comedy I'll Get Him Yet at the Best Theatre, followed by lunch at the Sunflower Pharmacy.

May 20, 1921
Brooks plays Catherine Rogers in a two-act play, Mr. Bob, staged in the auditorium of the Horace Mann intermediate school in Wichita. Some 600 students attend the event.

Oct. 5, 1921
Elected to the sophomore class student council.

May 18, 1922
Performs an "Egyptian Dance" at the Arcadia Theater at a convention event sponsored by the Kansas Bankers Association.

Oct. 3, 1922
Referenced in a front page review in the Lewistown Sentinel. Later in the day, appears with Denishawn at the Strand Theatre in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.

Oct. 11, 1922
Receives her first mention in the New York Times
in a review of the Denishawn engagement at Selwyn Theatre. Later in the
day, appears with Denishawn at the Opera House in New Castle,
Pennsylvania.

Nov. 7, 1922
First mention in a Canadian publication: Brooks is referenced in a review in the London Free Press.

Nov. 18, 1922
Appears with Denishawn at the Crawford Theatre in
Wichita, Kansas. Brooks is presented with "many flower tributes."
Following the performance, Brooks' parents host a dinner party at their
home, with Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Martha Graham, Charles Wiedeman,
Pear Wheeler and other members of the Denishawn Company.

Jan. 15, 1923
Appears with Denishawn at Bardavon in Poughkeepsie,
New York. (Unknown to Brooks, future surrealist photographer Lee Miller is in the
audience.)

December 29, 1923
Appears with Denishawn in matinee and evening performances at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

March 3, 1924
Appears with Denishawn at the High School Auditorium in Hibbing, Minnesota. (Is that Bob Dylan's High School?)

April 18, 1924
Denishawn Dance Company starts a two day run of
matinee and evening performances at the Grand Opera House in London,
Ontario, Canada.

July 8, 1924
New York Telegram and Evening Mail raves about
Brooks, which states she is the "fairest youngster that has dawned on
Broadway in a long time. This is her first show, and word came from
Atlantic City that she was a revelation of superlatively lovely
girlhood...."

Oct. 20, 1924
Begins dance engagement at the Cafe de Paris in London. She is "cordially received" on her first night. The popular act, Layton & Johnstone, are also on the bill.

April 21, 1925
Brooks meets African-American actor Paul Robeson at a party at the apartment of writer / photographer Carl Van Vechten. Robeson thought her "very conceited and impossible."

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Happy New Year from the Louise Brooks Society. This year, 2017, promises to be a great year for fans of the actress--with the expected release of a new book, at least one new DVD, amultiple screenings around the world, and an
unprecedented announcement that will rock LB fans everywhere! (Regarding the latter, I know what it is, but can't say. Sorry.) And Happy New Year from Buster Keaton from 1926. This image is taken from a 1926 Japanese film magazine.

Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com) is an online archive and international fan club devoted to the silent film star best known for her role as Lulu in Pandora's Box. Our motto, "To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world." - Salman Rushdie

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This blog is authored by THOMAS GLADYSZ, founding Director of the Louise Brooks Society. It is a continuation of the old LBS blog at LiveJournal, which started in 2002. Please send comments, questions, or material to share to silentfilmbuffATgmailDOTcom